


Starfish Summer

by GhostGreninja



Category: Kirby (Video Games), Kirby - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gijinka, Other, i mean not really they just meet up as kids, this is more friendship than romance tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 15:39:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15173891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGreninja/pseuds/GhostGreninja
Summary: Living near Orange Ocean is pretty boring, at least when you don't have friends.





	Starfish Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RadiantSeraphina (Lady_Arrowwood)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Arrowwood/gifts).



> *spends 10 minutes googling articles about starfish* hey guys!
> 
> the next chapter will be better hopefully orz

Several sea creatures had washed up ashore when high tide hit once again. A small boy with fluffy blue hair, a blue shirt, a dark cape, and orange trunks observed the beach, humming to himself. The sand became more pleasant to walk on, Meta noted, as he picked up a starfish stranded nearby. The starfish moved one of its limbs, possibly protesting the way it was dangling from the boy’s hand. He unceremoniously tossed it into the ocean before moving on to the next marine animal.

 

Orange Ocean was a popular tourist spot during the summer, people eager to see why the place had lived up to its name. Meta, being an unsociable child, dreaded the upcoming months. To him, it meant more people asking how long he had lived there, where a bathroom was, or someone taking unnecessary photos of his house. Imagine the questions he would get if he had bothered to show his wings?

 

After tossing the remaining creatures into the sea, he brought out a book, a notebook, and several pencils and pens from his dimensional cape and sat by a nearby tree. It was an educational book - Meta couldn’t enroll in primary school. There were no schools nearby, and he and his mother came to the island for a _reason_.

 

He was about half a chapter and two worksheets in before a figure appeared above him. Annoyed, he set his book higher to his face. However, the stranger thought this was an open invitation to sit next to him.

 

“Whatcha readin’?” the stranger asked. Meta didn’t give an answer. “Pre-cal-uh-lus and Tri-go-nome-e-try?”

 

The butchered pronunciations almost made Meta take the book away from his face. “It’s Precalculus and Trigonometry,” he corrected.

 

“Looks boring. Where’d you get it from?”

 

“I stole it. Go away.” Unwilling to talk to this stranger for any longer, he flipped a page.

 

"Who even steals books?" The stranger _turned it back_. “I was trying to read that!”

 

Thoroughly annoyed at this point, Meta set the book down and turned to his current mortal enemy, a boy with light-blue hair wearing a cap backwards along with a red shirt and grey pants. He assumed that the boy was around his age.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Meta asked, then scowled at the boy. “Is there a point to your meaningless meddling?”

 

Unaffected, the boy shrugged. “I’m looking for someone to play ball with. I saw ya throwin’ starfish, so I wanted to say hi.”

 

_The starfish have to die now_. “Don’t you have friends you can play with?”

 

“Do you?”

 

_Damn it_.

 

“People come here sometimes. Tourists like asking me questions.”

 

“Wow, I thought you were like an angry cat, but now you’re like...an angry, nerdy, lonely cat.” He then imitated a cat...pawing.

 

Meta paused. An...angry cat? Maybe he was angry, but he looked nothing like a cat, nor did he act like one. And he was not a nerd. Nerds are losers, and Meta doesn’t _lose_. Lonely? He had his mother, so he wasn’t lonely. Wait, why was he actually considering what the boy said?

 

“I have two ears that are no longer listening to you. Goodbye.”

 

“I’m not leavin’ until you play ball. I could be here the entire summer!”

 

He let out a long, exaggerated sigh, because he didn’t want to deal with the prospect of the annoying boy bothering him for the next hundred or so days. The boy beside him had the smuggest grin as he was getting up.

 

“Fine,” Meta said. “Leave me alone afterwards, please.”

 

\------

 

After effortlessly throwing the ball back and forth to the boy, whose name, he learned, was Dedede, he suggested drawing in the sand instead.

 

“Are you really staying here for the whole summer?” Meta asked, drawing a star in the sand.

 

“Yep,” Dedede replied, more focused on completing his sand drawing. It was a cat-like face with spiky hair. Immediately recognizing what it was supposed to be, Meta groaned.

 

“Is that supposed to be me?”

 

Dedede ignored him and looked towards the ocean, somehow mystified by the sunset. “It really is orange.”

 

“No, it’s not,” Meta corrected. “It’s just the reflection and position of the sun that gives off that impression. There’s no such thing as an orange ocean.”

 

“Okay, nerd, it’s orange,” he said, pointing at the sea.

 

“It’s not orange, moronic prince of Dreamland.”

 

“Ha!” Dedede laughed. “That’s funny. I’ll use that from now on.”

 

Knowing that none of his possible future insults will work on this jerk, Meta frowned and proceeded to ruin Dedede’s significantly below average rendition of him.

 

“Hey!” Dedede complained. “You can’t do that!”

 

The prince stomped on Meta’s star, though he sort of saw it coming.

 

“Too bad. That was actually a really good star.”

 

Suddenly caught off-guard by the compliment, Meta had no words other than “Uh...thanks.”

 

The not-orange ocean glistened while the sky began showing shades of scarlet and purple. Meta was drawing another star, and Dedede was laying on his side, already almost asleep. A small firefly landed on his cap, right before moving to his face. Curious, Meta watched the bug emit light a few times in the non-respondent boy’s face before leaving. Dedede opened his eyes and yawned, then yelped in surprise because of how close Meta was.

 

“Is there something wrong with my face?!” he asked.

 

“Bioluminescence.”

 

Dedede blinked. “What?”

 

“Some starfish are bioluminescent, meaning that they’re able to emit light through a biochemical process. I think they use it for communication and potential mates.”

 

“...What does that have to do with me?”

 

“There was a firefly on your face.”

 

He widened his eyes in horror and started frantically wiping his face. However, it was to no avail since his hands were full of sand, and the bug was already long gone. Meta shrugged and began drawing a sword next to the finished star.

 

The stars were scattered all over the sky. By this point, Meta had completed a few more drawings, and Dedede was snoring loudly. He assumed that the other was supposed to go home, so he nudged him.

 

“Hey,” Meta said. “You shouldn’t be sleeping here.”

 

Dedede yawned and begrudgingly got up. “See you later,” he said, waving then turning to the opposite direction. _That was kind of fast._

 

Meta had watched him leave until he was out of sight, then he decided to go home as well.

 

Maybe his mother was right. Socializing with other kids is okay.

 

Maybe.

 


End file.
